Richard Rose’s Psychology of the Observer The Path to Reality Through the Self

The Psychology of Observation and Perception 251
This predicament emphasizes the need to somehow make this transition from watching the
mind with another part of the mind (the mental “observer” that is itself a highly refined thought and
subject to error), to watching it with an undefinable awareness from outside the mind. Without this
truly objective, impersonal quality of vision, one may be vainly indulging in an erroneous self-observation
in which one’s seeing is polluted by various desires, egos, and rationalizations, while merely
assuming that one is seeing oneself accurately. This is why we must be able to see our filters to seeing.
Watching a demonstration of hypnosis in which the subject fully experiences the mock-reality the
hypnotist is suggesting—and then humbly recalling our own previous states of certainty while hypnotized
or deluded—forces us to take this matter more seriously.
Even after one has evolved to a certain level of spiritual maturity and one’s inner vision is
fairly reliable, there is still room for yet another devious error to take place; one more way in which
the ego-mind can outwit the seeker’s attempt to find the true Self.
A good metaphor for illustrating this is, again, the mechanism of a word processor, in which
a sequence of text is recorded and stored after it has been written. Then, if one wants to work on this
material further, the original document is not recalled from the storage area, but the machine instead
automatically replicates the original text, and one works on this copy. This same mental “sleight-ofhand”
can occur with self-observation.
Rather than pure, direct “seeing” of the mind by a spiritual witness, what may happen is a
subtle process of the mind’s content being instantly copied, as it were, by another part of the mind.
The act of observation is also cloned as an ego, rather than being a living, existential function; all this
as one operation or mass-concept. Then, one engages in a mental study of this content from that ego
of observation, assuming that it is genuine awareness of the mind from outside the mind-dimension,
when it is all still actually one complex, high level thought or visualization within the mind. This is a
more refined form of the dichotomy that Rose warned about earlier of not splitting oneself up in
meditation, with one part watching another, but to view oneself directly as a whole.
The challenge is to be alert enough to be able to adroitly separate the seer from this syndrome
in which the self is trapped and OBSERVE even this trick of the mind occurring, and not be seduced
by the mind’s simulation of spiritual awareness. One must take care not to turn observation into a
concept of observation, but to actually observe even these unwitting concepts of observation; observation
as a living verb, not a static noun. Furthermore, as Jean Klein teaches, there is no “observer” as
an ego or specific entity—there is only observation.
Since the ego-mind does not wish to be ended, this deceptive maneuver can be one of the final
attempts by the lower forces to keep one in maya. It will act to perpetuate its existence, even by
insidiously misusing spiritually oriented teachings meant to end or transcend the mind. Much like
external sensory input perceived while we are sleeping (noises, hunger, temperature) being worked
into the dream as a part of the story already taking place, our terrestrial dream-mind has the tendency
to incorporate even a valid philosophical principle from outside itself back into the dream-state as
only one more concept to reinforce the dream-state, rather than be awakened by it. (The seemingly
inevitable degradation of the original teachings of the founders of the major world religions by their
subsequent followers is sad evidence of this.) Likewise, the mind will desperately try to divert the
thrust of any effort that aims at Self-Realization, and turn it into but another form of fantasy, egotism,
or procrastination. One may entertain the illusion of waking up, while remaining fast asleep. This is
why the path is said to be like a razor’s edge, requiring constant vigilance and intuition to diagnose
one’s real status. Perhaps this is what Zen Masters are for, and the “inner Guru.”
I had asked Rose about this trap in meditation; one that can be likened to a dog chasing its own
tail. His reply was most astute and summed up some of the main themes in his teaching: